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SHE likes to party, he doesn’t drink. He’d try escargot, she only wants to stick with salad. There was no denying that Cory, a 29-year-old landscape architect, and Katie, a 27-year-old advertising coordinator, came from different sides of the pond. So how did the two handle a blind date at Upper East Side eatery Café D’Alsace? Let’s just say that the best word they came up with to describe each other was “nice.”

He said:

I waited for a few minutes at the bar, since I got to Café D’Alsace first, and the wait staff was really friendly and helpful. The place looked pretty sleek and modern. When Katie showed up, she looked different from her photo – but still attractive.

The first thing I sensed about Katie was that she was friendly and easy to talk to. We had a good conversation about our families, and we both like to travel and are pretty active.

The only thing that was a little odd is that the people I generally hang around are pretty brave about trying new things, and as far as I could tell from a first date, that wasn’t the case with Katie. The menu was pretty adventurous, and I wanted to try escargot, but Katie was resistant. Also, Katie’s big on going out to bars to socialize, but I don’t drink, so that’s another thing we didn’t have in common.

There was enough conversation that the night didn’t totally die, but it didn’t seem like we had enough in common to turn this into anything serious. Still, it was just the first date. I would’ve gone out with her again to see if there could be anything more, but Katie didn’t seem like she was interested in anything other than being friends, which is fine.

At the end of the night, we took the same train back to Union Square. We exchanged MySpace addresses before parting ways. Since then, I’ve messaged her, asking if she was interested in going out. She hasn’t responded yet, though.

Rating: (heart)(heart)

She said:

My first impression of Cory was that he was a nice guy. Looks-wise, he was OK, but from our initial conversation, he was clearly a sweet, good person – though I wouldn’t say that’s generally my type.

Cory doesn’t drink, which I found kind of surprising. I know a couple people who generally abstain, but when we go out, they usually have a glass of wine or something.

Our conversation was pretty tame. Cory’s from Texas, so he talked about how Northern girls are different from Southern girls. For instance, he told me that Northern girls aren’t into guns, but Southern gals don’t have a problem with hunting. Personally, I don’t think it’s OK to kill animals, but shooting in a range is fine. In fact, last week I went to a firing range and shot rifles with a co-worker, which was pretty fun, even though I was initially nervous. I’d never done that before.

Café D’Alsace was a good spot for the two of us to go for a first date. We shared a salad, then took the waiter’s recommendation for the duck and steak, which were excellent. Turns out we’re both foodies, so we talked at length about different restaurants and cuisine we’ve tried.

Cory and I don’t have much in common as far as things to do – I like to go to bars and parties where there’s a lot of drinking, and he’s more of a pool hall, coffeehouse kind of guy. After dinner, we rode the 4/5 train downtown since we were going in the same direction. He gave me his business card and told me to find him on MySpace.

Cory actually beat me to the punch and sent me a really sweet MySpace message two days later, saying it was nice to meet me. He kind of asked me out again – but, in truth, he wasn’t my type. I’d be interested in keeping in touch with him, but as a friendly thing. Still, I’d hang out with him again, maybe in a more relaxed group setting. You never know.